Chapel Hill, TN AAR - October 2-3, 2021

[Google]

It was a fantastic Appleseed weekend at Strategic Edge Gun Range in Chapel Hill, TN.  Tony Shankle, the owner, has been a supporter of Appleseed for several years and has welcomed us to use his premier facility without charging range fees.  We are extremely grateful for his generosity!  Rifle clinics here are typically sold out with many members bringing their family to enjoy the event together.

Saturday started out beautiful with an enthusiastic group that included shooters with a range of experience, youth, families, and a returning Appleseeder that brought a friend.  (Spoiler alert - they had been practicing together just for this event.)  We heard the First Strike of the match then had the Safety Brief and shot our first Hits Count target of the weekend.  There were a lot of holes in paper, but not necessarily where they should be, so we started learning the three essential ingredients of precision marksmanship:  Position, 6 Steps of Firing a Shot, and NPOA.  Breaks in instruction for dry fire exercises cemented the concepts and gave us the opportunity to make sure rifles were fitted properly.  When it was time to shoot squares there were some great groups! 

We heard the second strike of the match over lunch then headed back to the firing line.  After learning about IMC and getting everyone dialed in we learned about seated/kneeling positions as well as standing position.  The third strike of the match was shared while the group took a short break.

The shooters had looks of determination while posting their AQTs.  After getting through all the stages we found several good scores and TWO men among us who knew well what they were about.  Casey, a returning Appleseeder, qualified as did his friend, James.  All of that dry fire and live fire practice paid off!   

The group shot another Hits Count target and started clearing the range just as an evening storm passed through.  Thankfully most of the gear was safely back in cars before the heaviest rain occurred.

Sunday morning started cloudy, which was better than the steady rain that had been predicted all week.  The forecast improved while gear was brought to the line and the morning Hits Count target was posted.  A bit of rain started during morning drills, but cleared up enough for us to post an AQT and be optimistic about the remainder of the day.  All I can say is that Mother Nature has a serious sense of humor, because halfway through the AQT both rain and thunder started that drove us to the club house for a slightly early lunch to include a DOM and KD presentation.  The storm broke long enough for us to clear the range and send everyone on their way.  It was a little disappointing to have to end early, but the attitude of the shooters had been so great all weekend that we all walked away upbeat about the time we did get to spend on the range.

On behalf of the instructor crew I want to say how much we enjoyed the opportunity to work with everyone at Chapel Hill.  The shooters showed up ready to learn and were enthusiastic throughout the event.  It is always a pleasure to work with such an eager group and share both marksmanship and history of our great country.

One more thing ... a special shout out to our Blue Hat, HondaHondo, who drove over an hour Saturday morning from Alabama, with a sinus infection, just to do check-in because he had signed up and was going to fulfill that promise.  You are awesome!   

Thanks again from your crew:  Google, ArmyVet, Nashville Stage, Booney Stomper, Eagle Keeper, OP 78, and HondaHondo

Group photo:


Casey claiming his Rifleman patch:


James's turn for the patch:


Our youth shooters:


Booney accepting his 75 event pin:


Nashville Stage with his slightly late 25 event pin:


Nashville Stage working with Lisa to put the details together:


And her excitement seeing the results:


Levi running his beautiful level action like a pro:


Keely improvising, adapting, and overcoming:


A full line:


Max demonstrating his version of the seated position, aka the pretzel:


OP 78 introducing the AQT:


Booney telling all about Mother Ruth and the Grenadiers:

[Miggy]

Congratulations to all and specially Casey. He was a gentleman and helped the less-than bright shooter to his left. Much appreciated, brother.

Go

[Rusty1949]

I had a great time, as usual. This was my 3rd Appleseed and all 3 were an absolute blast. The instructors all did a great job of explaining what was expected of the shooters and how to obtain our best results. Miggy, I had a great time shooting beside you. Your first Appleseed reminded me very much of my first, rifle reliability issues and difficulty with "riflemans yoga". It gets better and easier with practice, can't wait to see you at the next one. Casey